DeSean Jackson held out from Eagles training camp for a reasonably long time, wanting a new contract from Philly before beginning to play. The Eagles have said they could, technically, give Jackson the money. But why haven't they?

But perhaps it's because the Eagles simply don't value DeSean the way, well, DeSean values DeSean. According to Tim McManus of Philadelphia Sports Daily, the talks between Philly and DeSean are at a "standstill" and that there will be no "surprise" contract for Jackson before kickoff on Sunday, as some folks believe.

The provides a pretty big range, given that Holmes is making $10 million a year and Fitzgerald is making $15 million a year -- McManus says that Rosenhaus wants a deal that is "much closer to Holmes money."

Still, that's a lot of cash for a guy who has some concerns about his size and ability to withstand punishment in the NFL. Which is probably why the Eagles want to hold off a bit longer on handing him a new paycheck.

With Vick's long-term future secured, the Eagles have the franchise tag available for Jackson in 2012, so they don't necessarily even need to worry about giving Jackson a new deal for another two years at minimum if they so choose.

But while rolling out to take a pass on a fourth-and-one late in the second quarter, he injured his right hamstring and is out for the game.

It’s unclear how serious the injury is, but as the Philadelphia Daily News pointed out, Young didn’t appear to be limping on his way to the locker room at halftime.

Kafka replaced him, and he proceeded to get rocked by the Jets defense, leaving some to wonder if backup-backup quarterback Jason Avant, who is a receiver during the day, would have to take over. But for now, Kafka is still in the game.

UPDATED (10:45 p.m. ET): After the game, coach Andy Reid told the media that Young suffered a strained hamstring and will undergo an MRI on Friday.

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I love this answer. Like, a lot -- Banner's admitting that the Eagles could extend Jackson. But he's not saying anything about whether or not they will extend Jackson.

Perhaps most terrifying for Jackson is the fact that the Eagles, having given Vick all that money, now have their franchise tag open for 2012. And while that would surely result in Jackson making many more millions of dollars than he's making right now, it would also result in the wide receiver playing on a one-year contract.

He's made it clear that he'd like a little more long-term security from Philadelphia, so that could escalate things between he and the team leading up to next year.

But, then again, it's entirely possible that they could extend him before that ever becomes an issue. The math says so anyway.

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A couple days late on this story, but I really enjoyed this column by Yahoo Sports’ Michael Silver on Patriots ownere Robert Kraft and how he’s dealing with his wife’s death. Great stuff in here. One poignant quote from Kraft on CBA negotiations while his wife was dying: “There were plenty of moments where I thought, ‘Why am I here?’” Kraft says. “I’m thinking of my sweetheart, and I wanted to be with her every minute. Really, the only time I wasn’t with her was at these meetings, and when we’d get off in minutiae or [talking about] things I thought were irrelevant -- they might not have been, but to me they were -- I was thinking, ‘What am I doing here?’ Maybe I shouldn’t say that, but I was.”

And we’ll go ahead and hit you with another Silver story. This one is on the league’s discipline policy for those who got in trouble during the lockout.

Another player has gone down with a torn Achilles tendon injury and will miss the season. This time it’s Chiefs linebacker Brandon Siler, who hurt himself on the last play of Tuesday’s practice. He’s the 11th player to be lost for the season with this kind of injury.

Vince Young seems destined for the spotlight, no matter the uniform he wears, his station on the depth chart, the state of his relationship with fans and media, or how well he might be playing at the time.

As it stands Young, the Titans' 2006 first-round pick, is now Michael Vick's backup in Philadelphia. And through several weeks of practice and two preseason games, the most memorable thing he's done is utter those infamous words: "Dream Team," in reference to the 2011 Eagles.

Even though Young's initial observations were slightly more nuanced than "We're just like the 1992 US Olympic Basketball Team! Y'all all might as well not even show up come game time!" such comments -- right or wrong -- can take on a life of their own.

And that's exactly what happened.

Now, nearly a month later, Young says he has no regrets about letting those words escape his lips, even though he said remarks were taken out of context. "That's pretty much how it goes with Vince Young," Young said Monday, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. "My words always get taken out of context. … "That's just how I feel. I don't care what nobody else says, that's how I feel about the guys here. … You can't tell me not what to say."

This is true, we can't tell Young what to say. And in the scheme of things, there really isn't much here. If Kevin Kolb had made those comments as Michael Vick's backup, reporters would've had a good chuckle and continued with what they were doing, probably not even thinking it was worth scribbling it in their notebooks.

Head coach Andy Reid boiled it down nicely. "The bottom line is you got to go play," he said. "And so if he's feeling the dream then he can do his little dream thing. Personally, I like Vince Young. I really like him. I like the way he's handling himself and doing the things he's doing."

Defensive end Trent Cole thinks the team will have a target on its back heading into the season not so much because of Young's remarks, but because the Eagles have such a talented roster.

"We are going to be a huge target," he told ESPN's Colin Cowherd, according to Sports Radio Interviews. I think we got a great team. We are going to cause a scene because I am very confident about what we have here this year."

Which is pretty much what Young was saying … except he made the mistake of including those two little words.

"It's just basically what I mean," Young said. "We do have some really talented guys, and I feel like if we continue to keep working and taking care of our responsibilities and finish like a team like we want to finish, I feel like that's pretty much how I called it. How everybody want to take it, that's how everybody is going to take it."

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The scare began on May 11 when a scan -- designed to follow up on heavy weight loss among other symptoms -- found "enlarged and hot" lymph nodes. Now, the receiver is cleared, based on what he told Jay Glazer of FoxSports.com Wednesday.

"That's first and foremost, I want everyone to know I'm fine, I'm healthy," Maclin said. "I was tested for everything, and every single test came back negative. I don't have mono, I don't have AIDS, leukemia — all the things people were guessing on, there was nothing. I was being tested for lymphoma and thank God everything has come back negative."

Maclin also noted the precise reason why he kept any news about his health out of the public -- he wanted privacy as he dealt with the possibility of a very serious disease and the battery of tests that accompanied such a fear. He also noted how the Eagles treated him less like an employee during the process, and more like a son.

"I wanted to keep it private until I knew for sure what was going on, and the Eagles were amazing," Maclin said. "They were one of the only ones who knew. My relationship with them is more than professional. They were like family during this."

Wednesday, doctors called him and informed him that the tests had cleared him of any illness -- Maclin told Glazer that the scare was "all caused by an inflammatory virus."

The Eagles are expected to release a statement on Wednesday evening and Maclin is expected to return to practice soon, though he said he has to wait a bit longer until he's "healed from the procedure last week."

He'll likely have some catching-up to do, based on the fact that he spent his offseason being tested for life-threatening diseases and undergoing constant medical exams.

But that's okay, because the wide receiver has -- understandably -- a new lease on life.

"Man, I don't wish this on anybody. I look back at my whole life, I've already gone through so much," Maclin said. "I already appreciate where I am and appreciate the game of football. I can't wait to get back out there and just resume my normal life."

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However, Maclin's older brother said on Monday that there would be information forthcoming about Maclin's status and that the wideout is "fine" and his career is not in jeopardy."When I say definitely, we definitely will have some news tomorrow," Andre Maclin told The Sporting News. "That’s when we find out exactly what’s going on and when we will address it and talk."

Yes, this makes the illness only more mysterious, and terrifying, though Andre emphasized that there's nothing seriously wrong with Maclin.

"They kind of have us on a gag order until tomorrow," he said. "But he’s fine, he’s fine. That much I can say."

He also added that he's "confident about that as well" when asked if he believed that the Eagles wide receiver would play in the upcoming season. Which leads us to speculate that the signing of Steve Smith might not have been for Maclin insurance.

But it doesn't really matter either way -- the only important thing here is that Maclin ends up coming out of whatever he's dealing with fully healthy.

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